Innovate Textile Awards 2025 - Awards Show
The Innovate Textile Awards 2025 recognises excellence across every corner of the sector, with categories including Innovation of the Year, Changemakers, Sustainability, Manufacturing & Supply Chain, Material Innovation and Product Innovation.
Introducing YULASTIC® — A new, natural, and sustainable alternative to elastane
The fashion industry has a stretch problem. Elastane (or spandex)—the material that gives everything from activewear to denim its stretch—comes with a hidden cost. It’s petroleum-based, difficult to recycle, and a major contributor to the growing issue of textile waste. But what if there was a way to achieve the same comfort and flexibility, without the environmental drawbacks?
Meet YULASTIC—a plant-based, sustainable alternative to elastane that’s set to shake up the fashion industry in 2025. Developed by Yulex, the pioneers behind natural rubber-based wetsuits for brands like Patagonia, O’Neill, and Finisterre, YULASTIC is a fine, natural rubber filament harvested from the Hevea brasiliensis tree (or, as most of us call it, a rubber tree). It’s fully renewable, responsibly sourced, and poised to become the go-to stretch fiber for brands looking to reduce their reliance on synthetic materials.
Outlast - market leader for climate regulating materials
Outlast is a temperature specialist in the textile sector and offers numerous, highly functional solutions for thermoregulation or insulation like no other manufacturer.
Proactive thermo-regulation: Once developed for NASA, the Outlast® Temperature Regulation is where the Outlast success story was born. The company based in Heidenheim, Germany changed the standards for textile thermo-regulation around the world with this technology. While conventional materials worked only with the wicking of sweat, the proactive heat management from Outlast prevents moisture from forming at all.
Outlast is redefining insulation.
Outlast is redefining insulation: The resourceful Outlast development team also provides a groundbreaking product group for the field of insulation, too: AERSULATE®. Insulation takes place here in the smallest space. Taking up ten times less space, even under the influence of pressure or moisture, AERSULATE® provides reliable and efficient insulation.
How can we ignore the textile industry in a world of exponentially expanding technology?
Climate change and global waste production have been significant issues for decades, but now we have something that could make all the difference. After years of research, our team discovered Squitex - an environmentally friendly replacement for petroleum-based fibers developed from genetic sequencing tools inspired by squids' tentacles! This revolutionary material will revolutionize the textile industry with its strong durability and climate positives functions. With a team of recognized specialists in biomimetic design and experience with Squid Ring Teeth protein, Tandem Repeat is founded by the leading inventor and Penn State Huck Endowed Chair of Biomaterials Professor Melik Demirel. He's joined by Dr. Benjamin Allen and Dr. Gozde Senel-Ayaz to help bring this innovative technology into reality.
The Robotics Living Lab (RoLL) is a £3.8m development at Manchester Fashion Institute, Manchester Metropolitan University.
RoLL is funded by the World Class Labs programme through the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), which aims to give UK researchers and innovators access to the quality laboratories, equipment and digital resources they need to thrive. Equipped with collaborative robotics and textile adjacent technologies, the new fashion research facility supports micro-scale fashion businesses using robotic technologies, particularly focussing on creating high-value, low-volume fashion production in the UK. RoLL conceives, tests, and develops new tooling solutions. Applications include stitching, cutting, pressing, and repair tools to support small fashion design businesses in using innovative manufacturing processes for more sustainable production. The lab encourages new forms of research partnerships, enables fashion research to inform policy on carbon-neutral manufacturing, and supports Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s 2038 target for net-zero manufacturing.
Inspired by nature, driven by innovation
We create smart, film-free papers that transform printing and packaging. Canapa views paper not merely as a substrate, but as a vehicle for future-ready, sustainable technologies. The company develops and produces coated transfer papers for sublimation and DTF printing, as well as water-based barrier coatings and plastic-free packaging solutions for global brands seeking environmental responsibility without compromising performance. Its film-free, recyclable, and high-efficiency products minimize ink usage, enhance print quality, and deliver long-term cost advantages. Through continuous R&D, patented surface chemistry, and compliance with EU Green Deal standards, Canapa is shaping the next generation of sustainable materials for a cleaner, smarter world.
Objective quantification of the hand feel and digital utilization
Emtec Electronic, located in Leipzig (Germany), develops and manufactures very specialized test devices mainly for the pulp and paper industry. Founded in 1995, emtec can look back to more than 25 very successful years. Within these 25 years several new developments have been launched successfully. Some of these inventions have become industrial standard over the years. Since 2014 emtec is also active in the nonwovens and textile industry with increasing success. Today emtec has 34 employees. 13 different test devices are part of the current product portfolio, all developed by emtec (in some cases in cooperation with domestic and international partners). A sales network of 32 independent representatives is responsible for emtec’s activities in more than 80 countries worldwide. Emtec test devices help the user to optimize production and converting processes as well as the product quality. Innovative products, flexibility, customer-specific solutions and an outstanding service are our target and what made us successful during the last 25 years.
Introducing YULASTIC® — A new, natural, and sustainable alternative to elastane
The fashion industry has a stretch problem. Elastane (or spandex)—the material that gives everything from activewear to denim its stretch—comes with a hidden cost. It’s petroleum-based, difficult to recycle, and a major contributor to the growing issue of textile waste. But what if there was a way to achieve the same comfort and flexibility, without the environmental drawbacks?
Meet YULASTIC—a plant-based, sustainable alternative to elastane that’s set to shake up the fashion industry in 2025. Developed by Yulex, the pioneers behind natural rubber-based wetsuits for brands like Patagonia, O’Neill, and Finisterre, YULASTIC is a fine, natural rubber filament harvested from the Hevea brasiliensis tree (or, as most of us call it, a rubber tree). It’s fully renewable, responsibly sourced, and poised to become the go-to stretch fiber for brands looking to reduce their reliance on synthetic materials.
Outlast - market leader for climate regulating materials
Outlast is a temperature specialist in the textile sector and offers numerous, highly functional solutions for thermoregulation or insulation like no other manufacturer.
Proactive thermo-regulation: Once developed for NASA, the Outlast® Temperature Regulation is where the Outlast success story was born. The company based in Heidenheim, Germany changed the standards for textile thermo-regulation around the world with this technology. While conventional materials worked only with the wicking of sweat, the proactive heat management from Outlast prevents moisture from forming at all.
Outlast is redefining insulation.
Outlast is redefining insulation: The resourceful Outlast development team also provides a groundbreaking product group for the field of insulation, too: AERSULATE®. Insulation takes place here in the smallest space. Taking up ten times less space, even under the influence of pressure or moisture, AERSULATE® provides reliable and efficient insulation.
How can we ignore the textile industry in a world of exponentially expanding technology?
Climate change and global waste production have been significant issues for decades, but now we have something that could make all the difference. After years of research, our team discovered Squitex - an environmentally friendly replacement for petroleum-based fibers developed from genetic sequencing tools inspired by squids' tentacles! This revolutionary material will revolutionize the textile industry with its strong durability and climate positives functions. With a team of recognized specialists in biomimetic design and experience with Squid Ring Teeth protein, Tandem Repeat is founded by the leading inventor and Penn State Huck Endowed Chair of Biomaterials Professor Melik Demirel. He's joined by Dr. Benjamin Allen and Dr. Gozde Senel-Ayaz to help bring this innovative technology into reality.
The Robotics Living Lab (RoLL) is a £3.8m development at Manchester Fashion Institute, Manchester Metropolitan University.
RoLL is funded by the World Class Labs programme through the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), which aims to give UK researchers and innovators access to the quality laboratories, equipment and digital resources they need to thrive. Equipped with collaborative robotics and textile adjacent technologies, the new fashion research facility supports micro-scale fashion businesses using robotic technologies, particularly focussing on creating high-value, low-volume fashion production in the UK. RoLL conceives, tests, and develops new tooling solutions. Applications include stitching, cutting, pressing, and repair tools to support small fashion design businesses in using innovative manufacturing processes for more sustainable production. The lab encourages new forms of research partnerships, enables fashion research to inform policy on carbon-neutral manufacturing, and supports Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s 2038 target for net-zero manufacturing.
Inspired by nature, driven by innovation
We create smart, film-free papers that transform printing and packaging. Canapa views paper not merely as a substrate, but as a vehicle for future-ready, sustainable technologies. The company develops and produces coated transfer papers for sublimation and DTF printing, as well as water-based barrier coatings and plastic-free packaging solutions for global brands seeking environmental responsibility without compromising performance. Its film-free, recyclable, and high-efficiency products minimize ink usage, enhance print quality, and deliver long-term cost advantages. Through continuous R&D, patented surface chemistry, and compliance with EU Green Deal standards, Canapa is shaping the next generation of sustainable materials for a cleaner, smarter world.
Objective quantification of the hand feel and digital utilization
Emtec Electronic, located in Leipzig (Germany), develops and manufactures very specialized test devices mainly for the pulp and paper industry. Founded in 1995, emtec can look back to more than 25 very successful years. Within these 25 years several new developments have been launched successfully. Some of these inventions have become industrial standard over the years. Since 2014 emtec is also active in the nonwovens and textile industry with increasing success. Today emtec has 34 employees. 13 different test devices are part of the current product portfolio, all developed by emtec (in some cases in cooperation with domestic and international partners). A sales network of 32 independent representatives is responsible for emtec’s activities in more than 80 countries worldwide. Emtec test devices help the user to optimize production and converting processes as well as the product quality. Innovative products, flexibility, customer-specific solutions and an outstanding service are our target and what made us successful during the last 25 years.